ISLAMABAD, June 29 In a setback to smooth distribution of water among provinces, the chairman of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), Aman Gul Khattak, has resigned prematurely 'on health grounds'. His resignation letter has been forwarded to the prime minister for approval.
Sources in the ministry of water and power told Dawn on Tuesday that Mr Khattak, who was also an Irsa member for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had gone on leave a couple of weeks ago in the middle of a dispute between Punjab and Sindh over sharing of water and opening of Chashma-Jhelum link canal.
Punjabs Irsa Member Shafqat Masood has since been officiating as Irsa's acting chairman.
The sources said Mr Khattak submitted his resignation last week as chairman and Irsa member. Mr Khattak is the first chairman to have resigned in Irsa's 19-year history.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's turn for Irsa's chairmanship expires in October 2010 and would be taken over by Punjab. As a requirement of the 1991 water apportionment accord, Irsa's federal and provincial members automatically become chairmen of the water regulator for one year on rotation basis.
Once Mr Khattak's resignation is accepted by the prime minister, the federal government would request the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to send nomination for a new Irsa member so that the province retained Irsa chairmanship until October.
The sources said that under the Irsa laws, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's irrigation secretary would perform responsibilities of Irsa chairman till the new induction.
Irsa has been divided over allocation and supply of provincial water share for the last few months. In February this year, Sindh's Irsa member requested its provincial government that he had been aggrieved over a majority decision of the Irsa in favour of Punjab and hence he should be called back from Irsa as a protest.
The provincial government did not agree to his request but got its protest registered over the issue with the federal government.
Only a day later, the Balochistan government withdrew its Irsa member for supporting the “Punjabs cause instead of Sindh's”. The Balochistan government contended that Sindh would not release Balochistan's share of water in case it itself suffered shortages.
It, however, subsequently rescinded its decision to withdraw its Irsa member.
As the controversy over sharing of water shortages prolonged, the Punjab government starting criticizing Irsa's role as a judicious regulator and claimed that two members from Sindh (a Sindh member and a federal member with Sindh domicile) were instrumental in taking decisions against Punjabs interest because of their high number of votes.
As a result, the Punjab government demanded re-composition of Irsa and threatened to withdraw its membership and its member started abstaining from Irsa meetings.
But even before the Punjab member's return to Irsa, Chairman Khattak had gone on leave for two weeks, subsequently extending it for another two weeks and then submitting his formal resignation.
Meanwhile, Irsa remained divided over the opening of Chashma-Jhelum link canal on Tuesday, but decided to increase Sindh's share from 170,000 cusecs to 190,000 cusecs to meet its irrigation requirements.
The Punjab government had written to Irsa last week to open CJ-link canal by releasing 15,000 cusecs of water through this canal.
A meeting of Irsa presided over by Punjab Member Shafqat Masood considered Punjabs request for opening CJ-link canal and Sindh's request for increased water share here on Tuesday.
The Irsa's federal and Balochistan members who also attended the meeting opposed the opening of CJ-link canal on grounds that it could not be opened as long as there was water shortage. It was, therefore, decided through a majority vote to review water situation after four days and reconsider Punjabs request for opening of CJ canal.
The meeting, however, agreed to allow Sindh to draw increased amount of water from Indus zone to the extent of 190,000 cusec from current share of 170,000 cusec. Besides the chairman, Irsa member from Sindh was also on leave.